The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus such as a still video camera and a video movie, and relates more particularly to improvements in the form to mount an image sensor such as a CCD to a base such as a printed circuit board in order to make the image recording apparatus compact.
Recently, a still video camera used as an image recording apparatus and a still image playback apparatus to reproduce a recorded still image, have come into practical use, wherein the still video camera is composed in such a manner that: the optical image of a subject is formed on a solid image sensor such as a CCD by an optical photographing means of a lens, a diaphragm and the like; and the image signal outputted from the image sensor is recorded on a recording medium such as a floppy disk. (Refer to the official gazette of Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection No. 60070/1989.)
When the above-described still video camera and still image playback apparatus are used, the photographed still image can be very easily played back without being processed by the developing and fixing units which have been used to process the image taken by a conventional camera.
Lately, a still video camera in which a memory card is used has come onto the market.
In the case of the conventional still video camera, mechanical parts and electrical parts are classified into a plurality of groups so that they can be provided onto a plurality of bases.
In the above-described composition in which mechanical and electrical parts are classified into a plurality of groups so that they can be provided onto a plurality of bases, problems have been caused such as: the number of bases are increased; and a large number of connectors and soldered joints are necessary in order to connect each part, so that the number of parts is increased and further the man-hours of assembly work are also increased, resulting in higher production costs.
Since the numbers of bases and connectors are increased, the apparatus attains a large size and further the amount of electric wiring is increased. As a result, the apparatus is affected by noise, so that the reliability is lowered.
With reference to the circumstances described above, the inventors previously proposed a still video camera which is characterized in that: almost all the parts necessary for photographing and recording are mounted onto a single base, so that the number of parts and the man-hours of assembly work are reduced in order to cut down on the production cost, and to make the apparatus compact and to increase reliability. (Refer to Japanese Patent publication Open to Public Inspection No. 82230/1988.)
As explained above, the size of the apparatus is made smaller by improving the form of mounting parts to the base. However, the length of the optical system of a conventional apparatus is still long compared with the sizes of electronic parts and the recording medium.
For example, according to the official gazette of Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection No. 60070/1989, the positional relation between the optical system and the image sensor is illustrated in FIG. 11.
Specifically, CCD 41 and the lens unit 42 are provided onto one of the surfaces of the base 40.
The pin-type terminal 42 of CCD 41 is inserted into the hole 43 of the base 40 so that CCD 41 can be electrically connected with the base 40, and the light receiving surface 44 is set toward the lens 45 of the lens unit 42.
The numeral 46 represents other parts to be provided onto the upper and lower surfaces of the base 40.
However, the following problem has been caused in the structure of the conventional CCD described above.
A luminous flux of an optical image passes through the lens 45 and converges on the light receiving surface 44 so that the image can be formed. In this case, the light path between the lens 45 and the light receiving surface 44 is formed only on one side of the base surface, so that a long distance is necessary on one side of the surface of the base 40. Specifically, distance L in FIG. 11, which is the minimum length needed for a camera, is likely to be longer.
For that reason, the camera body necessarily becomes thick, so that it is difficult to make the camera body compact in this type of camera.
The object of the present invention is to provide a camera, in which the image sensor, such as a CCD, is provided to the base in an improved manner so that the image recording apparatus can be made compact, in order to solve the problems in the conventional camera described above.